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up vote 6 down vote favorite

I know that I can move files at the command line, but I'm looking for an elegant desktop solution besides the traditional drag-and-drop of the Finder.

Basically, I want to right-click on a file and have a menu option that says "Move..." with a bunch of recently moved locations, or with a dialog box letting me choose the location.

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Just to clarify, I am aware that I can move files in Lion using a copy&move workflow, drag&drop workflow, or command line. To me, working with nested folders in the Finder is very slow and cumbersome. I'm looking for a faster and more elegant solution. I will try some of the suggestions below. Thanks! – drury Apr 18 '12 at 2:21

7 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

One option is to use the built-in "Copy" and "Move Item Here" options:

  1. Right-click on the source:

  2. Hold ⌥ Option while right-clicking at the destination:

(Of course, these can also be done using keyboard shortcuts!)

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From what I can gather, this still necessitates that I navigate to the folder in the Finder, which is precisely the thing I'd like to avoid. Am I understanding this right? – drury Apr 18 '12 at 2:17
Yes it does, so if that's what you're trying to avoid then this may not be your answer. Of course, if you're just trying to navigate quickly you can use ⌘N and ⇧⌘G and type in a path. – jtbandes Apr 18 '12 at 6:51
up vote 3 down vote

You can check out alfred.

  1. Launch Alfred
  2. Key in the name of the file that you want to move
  3. Press Ctrl
  4. Select Move to...
  5. Type name of destination folder

Don't even need to use the mouse. And it's a lot more easier than it sounds.

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up vote 2 down vote

OS X Lion has build-in copy & move item function. If you're using (Snow) Leopard, my favorite software is Total Finder.

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up vote 0 down vote

I'm using FileCutter (on 10.5.8), which does exactly what you're asking about. According to its webpage though there's no support for contextual menu plugins in 10.6+ so I'm not sure if you find it very useful (but see this link).

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up vote 0 down vote

My app of choice for this is moveAddict although it doesn't have the 'recent places' feature that you asked for.

(I'm not aware of any app which does.)

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up vote 0 down vote

You could try QuollEyeTree, a Mac OSX File Manager inspired by XTree.

It features a full basic set of file operations; Copy, Move, Rename, Delete for Files, Dirs and tagged files File Filtering and tagging

Most operations can be done with the keyboard, mouse or menu, so it should satisfy most - although there is no Drag'nDrop.

It can be downloaded from:- http://binnie.id.au/Ian/TreeApp.html

Which also shows a screen shot.

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up vote 0 down vote

My app of choice for this is Path Finder.

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